The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has announced its lineup for 2007, and I'd like to jump up and down about it.

Really, I would.

But every act booked for the four-day fest in Manchester, Tenn. -- from the Police reunion to the Flaming Lips -- is one less possibility for City Stages.

Bonnaroo, one of the most prestigious and popular music events in the country, might not put our Birmingham festival out of business. But its decision to settle down on Father's Day weekend -- City Stages weekend -- has struck a grave blow to our local festival and its ability to secure desirable acts.

Organizers here must combat the lure of Bonnaroo, year after year after year. City Stages, already working to overcome the largest debt in its 18-year history, needs no more obstacles in its path.

Raising $1 million to pay off an $861,000 shortfall and develop a $139,000 nest egg seems like a great enough task.

Of course, City Stages is bound to lose some ticket sales to Bonnaroo, just 170 miles to the northeast.

The Police reunion? Bonnaroo's lineup has it, and much more.

Who wouldn't want to spend June 14-17 listening to a powerhouse lineup that includes not just the Police and Flaming Lips, but also Tool, Wilco, the White Stripes, Widespread Panic, Ween, Spoon, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, Gillian Welch, T-Bone Burnett and Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals?

Fact is, though, that Bonnaroo's steep ticket prices (about $200-$240 for a weekend pass) are likely to prevent a mass exodus. The cost is four times greater than City Stages, which is likely to raise the price of a weekend pass from $35 to $50 this year.

The larger and more important problem is posed by Bonnaroo's increasing diversity on stage and its lockdown of acts City Stages might want to court.

When Bonnaroo opened its gates in 2002, it was a full-on jam-band extravaganza, mostly uninterested in other types of music. Changes crept in gradually, but the most startling switch came in 2006.

Last year, slowing ticket sales caused Bonnaroo to widen its focus and cast a much wider music net. To sell out each year, organizers reasoned, they'd have to attract lots of listeners outside the tie-dyed T-shirt set.

But acts that sign with Bonnaroo also agree to a non-compete clause that restricts them from performing anywhere near the Tennessee festival within a certain time period. Specifics on this provision are fuzzy, but it's clear that City Stages falls directly within them.

If organizers here wished to make an offer to the Police, for example, Bonnaroo would have to make an exception to allow that. For Bonnaroo's honchos to even consider the prospect, their fest must be sold out. Or so they have decreed.

In its first few years, Bonnaroo sold out quickly. More recently, tickets have been available perilously close to the festival dates -- way too late for City Stages to "piggyback acts," or sign anyone on the Manchester lineup.

That's a tough deal for City Stages. The concert business is filled with such cold, hard realities.

Talk to City Stages organizers about Bonnaroo, and they tend to put on the best face possible. We'll just have to program around it, they say. Hence today's announcement of the first few acts for the 2007 lineup, including Rickie Lee Jones, Dr. John and Marcia Ball.

Also, it's conceivable that a couple of well-connected friends of City Stages might ask the Bonnaroo folks for a favor occasionally, and the non-compete clause wouldn't apply. That seems doubtful for the marquee performers City Stages might be able to afford, but it's always worth a try.

Some music fans will insist there are plenty of acts to go around, so City Stages needn't worry about the impact of big, bad Bonnaroo. Thanks for the optimism, but I firmly disagree.

Last year, I heard plenty of talk from people in a position to know, saying that Bonnaroo made better offers to several acts -- big names and otherwise -- ensuring that City Stages was left scrambling.

Organizers for City Stages know what they're facing, and it's obvious they'll do everything they can to counter-program. Still, it's sad to look at Bonnaroo's initial lineup -- it's great! -- and realize there's no way such acts will be coming here.